SWELL Sculpture Festival returns this year with 50+ outdoor sculptures on Currumbin Beach. And The SWELL Smalls Gallery, housed just down the road at Dust Temple Currumbin, will play host a rich and exciting program of live events, including visual arts and literacy masterclasses, live music, spoken word experiences and creative culinary adventures, including the unique and exciting musical event, Small Acts.
With a phenomenal line-up of hip hop, rap, soul and spoken word artists, Small Acts is a collaborative performance where local artists muse on life as it has been and the gravitational shifts to a new world order. Artists The Kinship Collective, Bronte Eve, Lemaire and Huda Fadlelmawla will be taking submissions from the public about their experiences in 2020, to lay down the soundtrack of the evening.
We had the opportunity to talk with the Small Acts team about the process they had to undergo to make this happen as well as other details surrounding the event.
Where did the idea and inspiration for Small Acts come from?
We really wanted to capture the energy of the moment in 2020, and tell the story from a younger generation's perspective. Most of these artists (and us as organisers) are in their teens or early 20's, and it's a crazy time to be a young person, still learning about the world around them and their place in it. All of these artists sing, rap, speak and play from their souls and give so much heart to the audience. It's artistic expression with conscience and they are all so incredible at what they do.
In your opinion, what is the best part about these types of events?
The concept itself is unique to the way we are used to seeing live music, while mix up of styles and genres keeps it interesting and the fact it's a super limited audience size really makes it a two-way exchange between the audience and the artists. Also, the fact that it's at Dust Temple in Currumbin, I feel like any gig there has so much vibe because of the love they have put into the place, it really is a hidden gem on the GC.
Do you think Small Acts might bring a little bit of sanity to people during these uncertain times?
Art and Music always does, it can feel like a breath of fresh air, and we have been starved of that live interaction for a while so hopefully people can find calm amongst the chaos. We have to redefine sanity in these weird times through the platform we all know and love - which is supporting local artists. We also think this line-up is killer, and will send goose bumps down your spine, promise!
The boys from Kinship Collective featuring JK47 will be the house band for the night playing for all of the artists across the night, which gives an amazing insight into their Jam room they have at home where they play for a bunch of artists, it's pretty epic.
What was it like organising Small Acts given what's going on in the world at the moment?
SWELL have been amazing and so good to work with in this process, they have really had to change up the way they are doing things and have been super organised in helping us plan the event. They know where it's at with the COVID safe stuff, we've been in good hands.
To find more info about SWELL Smalls Gallery and Small Acts visit here.
